PART II. FEAR VS. SCIENCE: LESSONS FROM PLOWSHARE FOR THE HYDRAULIC FRAC'ING DEBATE

The US Plowshare Program, which included the nuclear-frac’ing of three tight-gas-sand reservoirs in New Mexico and Colorado, was conducted from 1957 to 1975 at the height of the Cold War. The first Plowshare test (Gnome) was an underground shot conducted in southeast New Mexico shortly after the Berlin crisis ended and two months after the detonation of Tsar Bomba – the largest nuclear weapon ever tested (57 mt) – by the USSR. The Gnome shot (12/10/61, 3.1 kt) produced an unexpected geyser of radioactive steam and smoke and several roads were closed near the site. A later Plowshare test (Sedan, 7/6/62, 104 kt), designed as an excavating experiment, contaminated more US citizens (mostly in Iowa) than any other US nuclear test.

The first nuclear frac’ing test, Gasbuggy (12/10/67, 29 kt), was widely supported and even encouraged by the public. The second, Rulison (9/10/69, 43 kt), met with some public opposition, particularly to the early flaring of the radioisotope-bearing gas. The third test, Rio Blanco (5/17/73, 3 simultaneous 33 kt), followed passage of the National Environmental Policy Act. The required Environmental Impact Statement drew wide public criticism and several court challenges, particularly from well-organized environmental groups in Boulder and Denver. There was little effort to support the test. A proposed fourth test, Wagon Wheel (Wyoming), was cancelled due to local opposition and a changing national mood regarding nuclear explosions.

Fear, not facts, stopped the US nuclear frac’ing experiments. The tests were technical successes, produced-gas-contamination models and new explosive devices showed radionuclide production could be kept to a minimum, and 45 years of post-abandonment monitoring by DOE’s Office of Legacy Management has failed to detect any radioactive contamination of near-site surface water, ground water, or natural gas.

What lessons can we learn from the Cold War frac’ing experiments that are applicable today? Is the fear of global warming blinding us to accepting new energy technologies? Is the fear of radioactive gas (then) similar to the fear of groundwater contamination (now)? Do we have the same knee-jerk distrust of industry (BP Macondo) scientists today as we did of the government (Viet Nam, Watergate) in the 1960s and 70s? To what degree is fear overshadowing facts?